Mike Portnoy Is Not Sueing Dream Theater

Mike Portnoy is not sueing his former band Dream Theater - despite reports yesterday suggesting he felt "wrongfully excluded" from the group, and that the band were "wrongfully using the name of the band in connection with [their] recording of an album without the participation or consent of [Portnoy]."
In a letter to Blabbermouth, Dream Theater's attorney Ronald S. Beinstock explained that there is no pending litigation between the band and Mike Portnoy.
Portnoy also chipped in with a post on his official forum, citing Blabbermouth as "lame" for "creating hate and negative propaganda":
"I did NOT sue [Dream Theater] ....and second of all, I DESPERATELY tried to discuss matters with them personally to avoid ANYTHING LIKE THIS and yet THEY insisted on only using lawyers...so my lawyers filed those papers (BACK IN APRIL, mind you) as that was the position they chose to take...if the band would've talked to me, it would've NEVER come to that!!!
"All that aside, this was 6 months ago....so yes indeed, we have all moved on since then...
"I'm still really not allowed to discuss any of this publicly, but I feel everybody's hasty and half-truth filled witchhunt yesterday deserves to be addressed to help at least try to clear my name and reputation that was so wrongly tainted by yesterday's false conclusions...
"The fact is, when you have a band (or a corporation or marriage) for 25 years, there are business and financial things that need to be sorted out behind the scenes .. it was incredibly LAME of Blabbermouth to exploit these private issues and divulge personal information that is clearly nobody's business other than our own. They are creating hate and negative propaganda and poisoning the minds and spirits of music fans around the world...shame on them. [sic]"
Portnoy co-founded the band 20 years ago, but left in 2010. He later suggested his regret for leaving the band and a wish to return, but they had already found a replacement in Mike Mangini.

ha!
can we just have a ban on all matters relating to Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy for the next 6 months? I like Dream Theater and Mike but I just think we have had our fill of news on them both recently lol

Portnoy just needs to suck it up like a big boy and realize he farked up big time. He figured Dream Theater became stagnant and decided to go elsewhere to perform. Pretty much the same as leaving the band, now they have put out a good and successful album and he is butt hurt because he wasnt in on the success. This is a small part of a thing us mere mortal like to call LIFE get used to it!

So, he's not allowed to talk about suing them one day, and then the next day he's not suing them but he's still not allowed to talk about it, but there are still papers on the court record, but those papers don't mean anything because they were filed six months ago, but the civil side of the legal system takes forever to do anything so Portnoy might just not be on top of his case.
Okay. Now I understand why musicians aren't lawyers.

Anyway, I agree with Dave Frenzy calling for an end to unnecessary DT and MP stories. The comments sections always end up as completely pointless arguments about the circumstances surrounding Portnoy's departure, with everyone calling each other retards and I'm sick of it.

Dave Frenzy wrote:
Pagan_Poetry wrote:
I'm surprised it wasn't Corey Taylor who broke the news about this.
ha!
can we just have a ban on all matters relating to Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy for the next 6 months? I like Dream Theater and Mike but I just think we have had our fill of news on them both recently lol

Yeah. It's almost as bad as the Velvet Revolver crap that plagued the site for months before this.

To be honest i'm kinda glad he left. The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence. The others were so dark and the latest album even had portnoy doing the singing. He was destroying dream theater by turning it into a metal band. I hope he never returns, maybe for live performance but he can't write anymore.

Hamburger89 wrote:
The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence .

:facepalm:
Am I the only one who likes all the stuff DT has done? I like their more prog style stuff, Six Degrees, Metropolis pt2, but i also really like their heavier stuff like Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought.

rebel rocker wrote:
Hamburger89 wrote:
The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence.
:facepalm:
Am I the only one who likes all the stuff DT has done? I like their more prog style stuff, Six Degrees, Metropolis pt2, but i also really like their heavier stuff like Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought.

I like every era of DT. SC, Tot and BC&SL all had amazing moments on them but on the whole I think they are the weakest albums they've done. I rarely listen to those albums from start to finish.
I honestly think Octavarium is their finest album and is very underrated. Every song on it is very well written, it's probably their most diverse album, it flows very well from song to song and the title track is one of the most impressive pieces of music I've ever heard.

Dave Frenzy wrote:
Pagan_Poetry wrote:
I'm surprised it wasn't Corey Taylor who broke the news about this.
ha!
can we just have a ban on all matters relating to Dream Theater and Mike Portnoy for the next 6 months? I like Dream Theater and Mike but I just think we have had our fill of news on them both recently lol

Too bad Portnoy-DT back and forths get hits. If the stories continue to pull interest(and they do), they're gonna keep coming.
And I can't believe that I'm the first person to take a potshot at Blabbermouth. Blabbermouth may have some good facts and interviews every now and again, but they are by far the scummiest music news source I've ever seen. It even rubs off on their registered users. I thought some of the UG users were ignorant, potty-mouth trashtalkers, but Blabbermouths community is a whole different animal.
Call UG what you want, but don't mistake UG for the music communities 4chan, that position will be held by Blabbermouth's basement dwellers for a long time to come.

ne14t wrote:
Portnoy just needs to suck it up like a big boy and realize he farked up big time. He figured Dream Theater became stagnant and decided to go elsewhere to perform. Pretty much the same as leaving the band, now they have put out a good and successful album and he is butt hurt because he wasnt in on the success. This is a small part of a thing us mere mortal like to call LIFE get used to it!

yea right. im sure hes so fucn jealous of the band he started and i love how all you think he thought dream theater wasnt guna be anything because of him leaving since hes the only good drummer in the world. OBVIOUSLY they were guna get someone of his caliber dipshits. it kills me how everyone thinks they know

Suggesting that a source was"creating hate and negative propaganda" to spread about him sounds more than a bit pretentious to me.
I don't think that it matters who pushed papers first or what the reasoning is, it doesn't sound like the fact is anything other than they're having a legal dispute, which is pretty much what the original statement claimed.
He can mince words all he wants and argue semantics until he's blue faced, but it is what it is. He should own it.

rebel rocker wrote:
Hamburger89 wrote:
The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence.
:facepalm:
Am I the only one who likes all the stuff DT has done? I like their more prog style stuff, Six Degrees, Metropolis pt2, but i also really like their heavier stuff like Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought.

YES. I first got into DT in 2001 with Metropolis Part II and every release after that just got better and better, IMO. ADTOE just sucks to me.

PHEW! I would have had a hard time sleeping if it had been true..
I predict the next message will be about how Dream Theater have been rehearsing ideas that could end up being potential ideas for a future album that may arrive at some point soon, or not.

rebel rocker wrote:
Hamburger89 wrote:
The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence.
:facepalm:
Am I the only one who likes all the stuff DT has done? I like their more prog style stuff, Six Degrees, Metropolis pt2, but i also really like their heavier stuff like Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought.

I have enjoyed everything they have put out...their first album has yet to grow on me

Hamburger89 wrote:
To be honest i'm kinda glad he left. The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence. The others were so dark and the latest album even had portnoy doing the singing. He was destroying dream theater by turning it into a metal band. I hope he never returns, maybe for live performance but he can't write anymore.

rebel rocker wrote:
Hamburger89 wrote:
The last album was the best thing they did since six feet of inner turbulence.
:facepalm:
Am I the only one who likes all the stuff DT has done? I like their more prog style stuff, Six Degrees, Metropolis pt2, but i also really like their heavier stuff like Systematic Chaos and Train of Thought.

no man, you're not alone. i hate when people say "this is the best DT has done since..." because they vary in style so much that its impossible to say what is truly better. you cant say that "Honor Thy Father" is better than "The Spirit Carries On", because they are completely different styles in general. and DT has some of the greatest musical variety ever.
but i still think that MP was turning DT into a 'metal band' with some of the stuff off the last two albums before he left. (particularly songs like Constant Motion, Dark Eternal Night, and maybe Rite of Passage). it wasnt bad, it just wasnt DT.

MORE DT NEWS FOLKS!! MAYBE YOU HAVENT READ THIS YET..BUT PORTNOY TWEETED THIS INTERVIEW HE DID FEW DAYS AGO TO CLARIFY IT ALL:
Sakis Fragos, publisher and chief editor of the Greek edition of Rock Hard magazine, last month conducted an interview with drummer Mike Portnoy (ADRENALINE MOB, DREAM THEATER, AVENGED SEVENFOLD). A few excerpts from the chat follow below
On whether he already made the decision to leave DREAM THEATER before he began touring with AVENGED SEVENFOLD:
Portnoy: "I didn't make the decision to leave DREAM THEATER before [hooking up with] AVENGED SEVENFOLD, but I knew that something had to change in the DREAM THEATER camp. It's unfortunate that it was me that had to change, because I never wanted to leave the band it was never my intention; I never wanted the split. I just merely thought that the band really could use a break, because I think the romance was really dying backstage and between [the members] personally. 25 years without a break is a very, very, very long time and sometimes these relationships need a break from each other to rekindle the flame. So that's all I suggested. And even before I [went on the road] with AVENGED SEVENFOLD, I remember touring with [the progressive rock project] TRANSATLANTIC at the beginning of 2010 and already knowing that something was wrong in the DREAM THEATER world and that I really needed a break from the guys and the whole DREAM THEATER machine. I knew something was brewing and I knew that I was unhappy, and as has been well documented elsewhere, I merely just wanted a break. But unfortunately, those guys [the rest of DREAM THEATER] didn't see it that way and didn't respect my request for time off. It's unfortunate [that it turned out that way]."
On some of the recent interviews with DREAM THEATER members in which they described their roles in the band as being "much more balanced" following Portnoy's departure and keyboardist Jordan Rudess' comment that Portnoy was "the DREAM THEATER police" who controlled the songwriting process while the drummer was in the band:
Portnoy: "It hurts me when I read stuff like that, but I also know that a lot of Internet web sites love to start controversy and stir up the pot, so I know a lot of times quotes are taken out of context; I've seen it happen to myself so much over the past year. So I understand that I have to take that stuff very lightly and not get too upset about it. But yeah, maybe they are more balanced, because the reality is, in all the time I was in DREAM THEATER, I was running the show; I don't think that's a secret and I think those guys would admit it. I was always the most proactive, the most passionate and most focused workaholic member of the band. I worked for that band every single day and never took a day off. So I was very, very obsessive and passionate and controlling over the baby; I didn't anybody to ever come in and hurt it or change it or affect it, and I had my finger very much on the pulse of what I thought the band should be and what I wanted to give to the fans. So I don't take offense to somebody pointing it out, because the reality is that's the way it was. And if now, without me, they're a little bit more balanced and they're splitting up the jobs whatever works for them. But I always knew that they were each gonna have to step up in terms of their involvement and commitment once I left, because before I left, every single decision went through me, and those guys didn't necessarily have their hands in a lot of decisions through all those years. So I knew that they were all gonna have to step up their game and split up the work so they could work. So I guess that that's what they're doing, and if they're happy, then I'm happy for them."
On how the last few DREAM THEATER albums contained some very heavy, PANTERA/METALLICA-influenced riffs along with brutal backing vocals from Portnoy, all elements which are missing from the new DREAM THEATER CD, "A Dramatic Turn Of Events":
Portnoy: "I can't speak for those guys. I can only speak for myself. But I always wanted DREAM THEATER to change with the times. A lot of people only wanted to hear 'Images And Words' for the rest of DREAM THEATER's career, and as far as I'm concerned, I think DREAM THEATER needs to be a band that moves with the times and changes with the times. I didn't wanna be playing stuff that sounded like 'Learning To Live' for the rest of my life. So I think it was important to have modern elements and incorporate it. And if those guys disagreed and didn't want [the music] to go in that direction, then they could have easily spoken up. As much as I was a control freak with everything in DREAM THEATER outside of the music itself, when it came to the music itself, me and John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess basically wrote all the music together. So if they objected to a direction that I was presenting, then they were always welcome to speak up and have a say. So it's not fair to blame me for the musical direction; we shared that vision together."
On the possibility of a reunion with his former DREAM THEATER ba

On the possibility of a reunion with his former DREAM THEATER bandmates at some point in the future:
Portnoy: "Well, you can't take a 25-year relationship and just throw it out the window and disregard it. So I never say never. If those guys ever asked me to work with them again, I would surely consider it, depending on my availability and what's going on in my life. But the reality is right now they've moved on and I've moved on. And I don't think they have any intention in looking backwards right now; it doesn't seem that way. I suppose if things work out with their new drummer, then they would probably have no reason to ever look back. But if, for some reason, things didn't work out, then I suppose that maybe it would be something that they would consider. But I guess we would cross that bridge when we get there. But right now a lot of those bridges are burned at the moment, so there's gonna be a lot of rebuilding that's gonna need to happen first."
On his current relationship with his former bandmates:
Portnoy: "Jordan, to his credit, has been the only member of the band that has reached out and sent me some very nice, supportive e-mails, and I appreciate that. Jordan has always been a real sweet person. As far as [bassist] John Myung and [singer] James [LaBrie] go, I haven't seen or heard from them since September 9, 2010 when we had our last conversation. [John Myung] happens to live down the block from me, but I still have yet to see or speak with him since September [of 2010], so it's been almost a year now. And John Petrucci I reached out to in October of 2010 in hopes to try to reconcile and work out our differences and make things work. And I reached and talked to him. But that was the last time I spoke to him. And he never even responded [after that], actually he just had his lawyer respond to me. So, unfortunately, I would love to have a personal relationship with the guys, but for whatever reason it's been shut off between us and it's very sad. It's sad for me because those guys were my brothers for so many years. But they've moved on and I'm moving on as well."
On whether the "fun" element was missing from DREAM THEATER towards the end of his tenure with the band:
Portnoy: "I think so. I think with ADRENALINE MOB it's just about having fun. I know when I left DREAM THEATER I was leaving a lot of security. I could have stayed in DREAM THEATER the rest of my life and been secure financially and secure in terms of a career, but to me, I can't be making music with a band because I have to I need to be making music with people because I want to. And with ADRENALINE MOB, we just absolutely love playing with each other, and there's a real sense of excitement every time we hit the stage. And we're definitely building this band from the ground up. I can't count on playing to five thousand DREAM THEATER fans every night. We're playing in a lot of these clubs to just a few hundred people every night. And it doesn't matter we feel like a new, young band that's going city to city and making fans every single night; we have to win over every single person in the audience each and every night. And there's a sense of excitement and rejuvenation that comes with that."
On how it feels for him to see DREAM THEATER releasing a new studio album that he had nothing to do with:
Portnoy: "It's something that I never in a million years thought I would have to see. It's very strange for me and it hurts in a lot of ways; it's very sad for me. I would have preferred it if we just took a little break rather than split up, but this is the way that the cards unfolded and there's nothing I can do about it. If this is what they wanna do, then they'll move on and I'll move on. So what can I say? It's not anything I can control."
On whether he feels that some fans have misinterpreted his decision to leave DREAM THEATER and forgotten all his contributions to the band:
Portnoy: "It hurts, because all of my heart and soul and blood and sweat and tears for all those years of DREAM THEATER was based on doing things for the fans. I always made sure DREAM THEATER was a very fan-oriented band, and everything from the fan clubs to the web sites to the official bootlegs to the setlists to the artwork to the merchandise, that was all stuff that I oversaw and controlled for the fans. And then, when this split happened, to see so many DREAM THEATER fans turn their backs on me, it really hurts. I'm a human being I'm made out of flesh and bone and when I read that stuff on the Internet, it breaks my heart and it bothers me. But I've had to turn off my computer and try to turn my back to that stuff, because when I read it, it breaks my heart. When I don't read it, I'm very happy with where I'm at I'm very comfortable with what I'm now doing in my life and career and I just need to, for the first time ever, make decisions to make myself happy. For 25 years, I made decisions to make the fans happy, but for once in my life, I need to follow my own heart. It breaks my heart when I see fans turning their backs on me, but on th

but on the other hand, I don't want to forget to mention the fact that there's a tremendous amount of fans that do have my back and that are supportive of me and understand what happened and are behind my next musical steps. So for those people that are [still behind me], I'll never let them down I will continue to work as hard and as passionately as I did for DREAM THEATER. I will put all of that into everything I do in my career, so the fans that stick with me will have a fan-friendly artist for life. It's just the way I am, and that applies to every band that I work with."
On the fact that the recent DREAM THEATER European tour was the first time the band played the same exact set every night:
Portnoy: "Well, I'm sure there's gonna be many things in the DREAM THEATER camp that are gonna be different, because the fact is that I made all of the decisions for the band beyond the music itself. So, of course, there's gonna be some things that are different and then, of course, there's gonna be other things that are gonna follow the framework and the ideas that I laid down and they'll just continue to utilize what was established in the past with me. So how they run the band and pick up all of my slack, all duties that I left for them [to take care of following my departure], how they do that is up to them. I don't know. I guess we'll all be waiting to find out."
On some DREAM THEATER fans' opinion that the "magic is gone" from the band's sound and songwriting chemistry now that he is no longer part of the group:
Portnoy: "I always thought that the strongest elements and personalities in DREAM THEATER were me and John Petrucci. And in the early days Kevin Moore [former DREAM THEATER keyboardist] was a big, big part of that chemistry, and then in the later days Jordan Rudess was a big part of that chemistry. But at the end of the day, it was always me and John [Petrucci]. And John Myung, of course, but he's a quieter person, so he's not as strong of an element because he's quiet by nature. But yeah, John Petrucci and myself were, and I think will always be, the sound and the style and the heart and the soul of DREAM THEATER. And I think if you take either one of us out, I think it's like when Roger Waters and David Gilmour split. David Gilmour carried on PINK FLOYD without Roger Waters, but as far as I was concerned, it was never the same. Roger Waters was a big part of the [sound on] all the classic PINK FLOYD albums, and once he left, I think PINK FLOYD sounded like a David Gilmour solo band. I honestly think if John Petrucci came to me last year and said he needed a break, I wouldn't have continued DREAM THEATER without him; I would have absolutely respected his desire for a break and I would have put the band on hold and waited for him. So it saddens me that he wouldn't do that for me, because I think DREAM THEATER, at the end of the day, was always about the chemistry between me and him."

It's almost as bad as seeing people write "dieing" instead of dying. Seriously, though. The people writing these articles are supposed to be journalists. How is anyone going to take this site seriously with stuff like that on the front page?

iscreamicecream wrote:
but on the other hand, I don't want to forget to mention the fact that there's a tremendous amount of fans that do have my back and that are supportive of me and understand what happened and are behind my next musical steps. So for those people that are [still behind me], I'll never let them down I will continue to work as hard and as passionately as I did for DREAM THEATER. I will put all of that into everything I do in my career, so the fans that stick with me will have a fan-friendly artist for life. It's just the way I am, and that applies to every band that I work with."
On the fact that the recent DREAM THEATER European tour was the first time the band played the same exact set every night:
Portnoy: "Well, I'm sure there's gonna be many things in the DREAM THEATER camp that are gonna be different, because the fact is that I made all of the decisions for the band beyond the music itself. So, of course, there's gonna be some things that are different and then, of course, there's gonna be other things that are gonna follow the framework and the ideas that I laid down and they'll just continue to utilize what was established in the past with me. So how they run the band and pick up all of my slack, all duties that I left for them [to take care of following my departure], how they do that is up to them. I don't know. I guess we'll all be waiting to find out."
On some DREAM THEATER fans' opinion that the "magic is gone" from the band's sound and songwriting chemistry now that he is no longer part of the group:
Portnoy: "I always thought that the strongest elements and personalities in DREAM THEATER were me and John Petrucci. And in the early days Kevin Moore [former DREAM THEATER keyboardist] was a big, big part of that chemistry, and then in the later days Jordan Rudess was a big part of that chemistry. But at the end of the day, it was always me and John [Petrucci]. And John Myung, of course, but he's a quieter person, so he's not as strong of an element because he's quiet by nature. But yeah, John Petrucci and myself were, and I think will always be, the sound and the style and the heart and the soul of DREAM THEATER. And I think if you take either one of us out, I think it's like when Roger Waters and David Gilmour split. David Gilmour carried on PINK FLOYD without Roger Waters, but as far as I was concerned, it was never the same. Roger Waters was a big part of the [sound on] all the classic PINK FLOYD albums, and once he left, I think PINK FLOYD sounded like a David Gilmour solo band. I honestly think if John Petrucci came to me last year and said he needed a break, I wouldn't have continued DREAM THEATER without him; I would have absolutely respected his desire for a break and I would have put the band on hold and waited for him. So it saddens me that he wouldn't do that for me, because I think DREAM THEATER, at the end of the day, was always about the chemistry between me and him."

stonedhippos wrote:
if Blabbermouth released untrue and misleading facts against mike, can't he sue them? just don't post it on UG, though.

he should sue them. I've had enough of this portnoy crap. What happened between him and dream theater wasn't even that bad. It was a huge deal that he left the band but I mean nothing bad really happened. Ughhhhh. Media...

know this is left field, but, why doesn't he do what musicians do and just make some ****ing music? tampax sales must be going through the roof, what with portnoy having the longest period any sentient being with a puss has ever had

Revolover wrote:
know this is left field, but, why doesn't he do what musicians do and just make some ****ing music? tampax sales must be going through the roof, what with portnoy having the longest period any sentient being with a puss has ever had

Because their people, not musicians. It's unfair to say they can't experience similar emotions to anyone else in the world just because internet news websites exploit the finest details. That being said, they should know the position there in as practically celebrities, and should know that the press will exploit them.

AndSteve wrote:
It's funny how quick everyone was to jump on the Portnoy hate-train as soon as there was an article posted here about the suing and shit, **** you haters

"Hater's gonna' hate." But seriously, people feel like they have to take a single side in any two sided fight like this. It's all grey area however, there is no right side or wrong side; we only know one side of this.

ne14t wrote:
Portnoy just needs to suck it up like a big boy and realize he farked up big time. He figured Dream Theater became stagnant and decided to go elsewhere to perform. Pretty much the same as leaving the band, now they have put out a good and successful album and he is butt hurt because he wasnt in on the success. This is a small part of a thing us mere mortal like to call LIFE get used to it!

Once again, it is quite unfair to not allow Portnay natural reaction to ay of this, let alone getting annoyed with the constant press from this whole matter (are we all not tired of this ourselves?)